The Maxwell Murder Mystery
by Rya Sahari
Summary: A murder is afoot, and it's up to the crime solving expertise of Detective Duo Maxwell to crack this case.
1. Prologue

It was around noon, the fog still had not lifted off the streets of New York and the smell of rain approaching wafted through the window screen into Duo Maxwell's office, being stirred slowly by the ceiling fan rotating lazily above. Duo sat back in his large office chair, his feet up on the desk and his braid hanging down the back of the chair and touching the floor.  
"Detective Maxwell." His secretary's voice crackled from his intercom phone. "Officer Heero Yuy is here to see you."  
Duo stretched out a bit and pulled his hat off his face, slightly irritated that his nap was interrupted. He groaned slightly and rubbed his temples, trying to shake off his hangover. When it registered in his mind who was there he grinned slightly and leaned over to push the gray button on the phone, saying "send him in Hilde, preferably with some aspirin."  
"Hey Hee-man." Duo said as Heero walked into his office and tossing him a small, white bottle. As usual, Heero looked like a poster boy for the police office, his blue slacks and shirt neatly pressed and in perfect order, his badge shining and everything placed perfectly on his belt. "Wanna sit down and have a drink? I've got the good stuff this time." Duo said as he pulled out a bottle of scotch from his desk and unscrewed the cap.  
"I'd rather stand, and you know I don't drink during the day." Heero replied, his piercing stare fixed on the detective as he poured the amber liquid into a shot glass and quickly downed it following the aspirin. "Besides, you seemed to have had enough yesterday night. I was wondering if you wanted to have lunch. You can come in my squad car, since I know your car happens to. break down a little bit yet." Duo smiled as his mind traveled down to his old cherry-red Buick, a rusted hunk of junk that Duo bought a while ago; which actually ran very well despite it's appearance, yet still had a small tendency of stalling out yet at intersections and red lights.  
"Trust me, I will never play that drinking game again. and as for the car, I'm fixing that problem." Duo replied, taking his raincoat off the wall hook and putting it on as he followed the staunch police officer. "Are we going to the usual?"  
"Of course." Officer Yuy replied, giving a nod to Duo's secretary as he walked by.  
  
The squad car stopped in the front of the diner that both Duo and Heero frequent, the Blue Moon. Duo walked through the door behind Heero; both of them sitting in their usual booth and greeted by their usual waitress, an older, red-haired, woman with heavy make-up.  
"Hello boys, what do you want today?" She asked, resting her hand on her hip.  
"The usual for me Candice." Heero replied, crossing his arms and lowering his head. The waitress knew exactly what "the usual" meant for Heero, a cold sandwich and a cup of coffee so strong it could lift a car. Duo looked over the menu for a second and ordered a hot sandwich and a Mountain Dew, handing the menu back to the waitress as she went to call their order.  
"So Heero, what's new in the force?" Duo asked as Candice put down a cup of coffee in front of the officer. Heero took a sip of the coffee.  
"Nothing that you could help with." Was his curt reply.  
"Aw, come on man." Duo said as Heero took another drink of coffee. "You know I wouldn't hit you up for any cases, even though it's been a particularly slow month for me." Heero was about to make another attempt to cut Duo off when his radio crackled to life, the dispatcher calling officers out in the field. Heero gave Duo a look and then put an earpiece in his ear, pressing the call button on his radio to signal he was on duty.  
  
After he listened for a while he looked at Duo, his eyes glinting, "well, it turns out we do have a case you can work on with me." "Alright!" Duo shouted, causing several patrons to look at them for a bit. He put some money on the table and went to the countertop, shouting, "hey Candice, we got to-" "Get going?" She replied as she walked out of the kitchen, holding two brown bags. "You are such an angel." Duo replied, grabbing the bags and jumping into the car, Heero already starting the engine. "So, who's the vic?" He asked, grabbing his sandwich out of the bag. "It's Relena." Heero replied, speeding off and almost clipping another car as they jolted towards the crime scene. "She's been murdered." 


	2. Crime Scene Investigation

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own the Gundam Wing characters or the city of New York or the police or hotels, so don't sue me if you happen to own the GW characters or that other stuff. Also, if you really like Relena I would suggest you don't read this.  
  
Onto the story  
  
~***~  
  
It was a little before one o clock when the squad car arrived in front of the hideously pink limo parked in a small hotel parking lot on Wabash Street. Heero turned off the siren and got out, Duo hopping out through the car window and following close behind him. When they got to the passenger door of the limo they saw Relena slumped against the other door, blood dripping down and pooling around her, staining the car seat and her pink dress.  
"The murder was reported by the limo driver after he discovered her like this about twenty minutes ago." Heero read from the file report that the officer on the scene had given him. "She was scheduled to be at an official meeting with several important dignitaries at one thirty pm. Apparently from the coroner's report the body was here all night and day until discovered, and the coroner will remove it shortly after the pictures. Prelim survey says that she died by a sniper shot to the head, probably from one of the windows in the hotel, not quite sure which one yet." Duo spent some time looking over the limo, searching out possible clues. After the coroner came and took the body away Duo put on his plastic gloves and got a better look inside the vehicle. A stack of papers and a briefcase sat on the other seat; yet some of the papers were also on the bottom of Relena's seat. Detective Maxwell picked up one of the pieces of paper, only to find it soaked with blood and therefore unreadable, as were the others.  
"Any witnesses Officer Yuy?" Duo asked as he leaned in farther, trying to sound as professional as possible.  
"Just two possible," Heero replied, looking over the notes. "The hotel clerk and a doctor who responded when the limo driver shouted for help." Duo looked at the bullet hole in the window of the other door and closed the other door, finding another bullet hole in the other window of the car.  
"So if Relena was sitting here," Duo said, motioning his hands down to the bloodstained seat. "And using these two bullet holes we might just be able to find which room the shot was fired from." Duo steadied the pointer right behind the lowest bullet hole and turned on the beam, a red dot appearing on a window on the ground floor. "Well well, room 113, what did I tell you? Am I amazing or what?" He said, putting the pointer back into his coat pocket.  
"Hn." Heero replied, as usual, walking into the hotel. Duo sighed and straightened his hat, walking into the hotel after him.  
  
Inside the hotel was buzzing with police officers, at least five from what Duo could see. Two of them were talking to the hotel clerk, who had a piercing stare and long brown hair. Another two were talking to a guy in a white coat, Duo thought it was most likely the doctor. He had short blond hair and fair skin; both of which were slightly marred with blood, obviously from helping out the limo driver with the body. The final cop Duo saw was writing in a small notebook, obviously taking an inventory of the motel's rather shabby lobby.  
"So, where do we start?" Duo said, looking at Heero and taking out his own notebook.  
"Lets find out about the room that you pointed out." Heero replied, staring straight ahead. Duo nodded in agreement and walked over to the clerk's counter with him, Heero motioning the other two cops away. They both introduced themselves and showed him some identification, and the clerk nodded in understanding.  
"So, Mr. uh." Duo squinted at the brass nametag on the clerk's purple jacket. "Trowa Barton, could you please tell us who is registered in hotel room 113 for last night?"  
"Sure, no problem." Trowa replied, turning to his computer and punching a few keys. There was no talking as the computer hummed, searching within its databanks to fulfill the clerk's request. When the electronic hotel receipt came up Trowa turned back to the two.  
"The room was rented out to you Detective Maxwell." Trowa's replied, looking at Duo. Heero and Duo looked at each other, then at the clerk, who shifted uneasily. "You reserved it through our computer service, and it says here that you checked in already." Duo looked at the nonchalant clerk in shock, and then turned the computer screen to look for himself, as though expecting nothing to be there and someone was just trying to play a trick on him. His name was right at the top of the green screen, followed by his personal information and even his credit card and driver's license information.  
"Duo." Heero said, pulling the detective off the desk before he made more of a scene then what he already caused. "I'm sure it was just a computer error, but." he put his arm around Duo and turned their backs to the confused clerk, "this could be a huge break for us, we wouldn't need to get a search warrant then."  
Duo grinned at him, "great idea." The two turned around and Duo leaned forward, resting his arm on the desktop.  
"Now I remember, of course I registered for that room. Oh, and I seemed to have lost my key. Could I get another one?" Trowa gave Duo a curt nod and ducked under the desk, coming back up with an electronic key card. Duo thanked the clerk and walked out of the hotel, running through the parking lot to room 113. He slid the key through the card reader and the door opened with a soft click, admitting him inside. What first struck Duo was how clean the room was; the bed looked as though no one had touched it during the night, all the complimentary crap that they put in the room was still there, save two or three Irish cream instant coffee bags, and there was no litter anywhere. The second thing that came to the braided wonder's attention was the sniper rifle sitting on the table next to a bottle of vodka.  
"Let's process this crime scene." Heero said as walked inside, snapping on a pair of latex gloves. "You know what to do." Duo grinned and nodded, looking over the bed. He found a few long brown hairs on the bedspread, which he took and put in a clear plastic bag.  
"I found something you can run through the DNA department." Duo said, holding up the bag. "Whoever shot Relena may have lied down on this bed, but they sure didn't sleep on it, at least under the covers."  
"Hn." Heero replied, dusting the gun and bottle with fingerprint powder, then lifting the prints with special adhesive tape. He took the bottle and gun and bagged them, putting them on a bed.  
"Nice rifle, that's a 50 caliber sniper rifle with a telescope lens and laser site." Duo said as he examined the weapon on the bed sheets. "I have one like it at home, no collection is complete without one."  
"Hn." Heero replied, dusting the sink taps and TV controls.  
"What I want to know is who comes into a hotel room and doesn't take all the complementary stuff that's in here." Duo continued, even though he was pretty sure that Heero wasn't even listening to him. "The soaps are all here, the towels. the only thing that's missing are a few coffee packets, they didn't even take the sugar!"  
"Someone was here on a mission, not to rest or for free stuff." Heero replied, snapping the fingerprint powder case shut. "You've done all you can, write your report and send it into headquarters by tomorrow."  
"No problem Officer Yuy." Duo replied, giving Heero a mock salute and the hair he collected off the bed. He headed out into the bright afternoon sun and stretched slightly.  
"All in a day's work." He said quietly to himself, adjusting his hat before putting his hands in his pockets and walking down the street.  
  
~***~  
  
Riptor: Is this the end of the story already? Awwww.  
  
Rya: Of course it's not the end, they still have to announce who did it, and don't you be giving anything away, I'm sure you know already.  
  
Riptor: *grins evilly* Mayyyybe. by the way, you never did anything with that awful looking pink limo.  
  
Rya: You're right. *sighs* Anyway, to all you readers out there, have fun with this chapter, review, and don't chew on tinfoil. 


	3. The Arrest

"Rack em up again Jack." Duo said as he chalked up his cue. A rather burly man, somewhere in his late forties with graying hair and stubbly beard, leaned down and gathered up the balls, placing them in the triangle. When the man finished Duo took a long drink from his beer bottle and then lined up his shot. After a few seconds he sent the cue ball flying, hitting the triangle of billiard balls with a sharp crack and sending the balls in all different directions, two of the solid ones going into the holes.  
"Looks like today is my day." Duo commented with a smirk as he shot another colored ball into the corner.  
"Hey Duo!" He heard the bartender shout as he lined up his next shot, causing him to turn his head and look over at him. "They're talkin about that murder you investigated on the radio!"  
"I'm not surprised." Duo replied, frowning slightly as the ball he hit bounced off the corner of the pocket and hit two or three other balls, none of them going in. "She was someone really important you know, whoever did this better watch their back."  
Suddenly two policemen walked into the bar, walking straight over to Duo. It was Duo's turn again; he was lining up one of his shots when the first police officer tapped Duo on the shoulder.  
"Detective Duo Maxwell?" The officer asked Duo after he turned around and faced him.  
"Yeah, that's me." Duo replied, finishing the last of his beer. "You guys want a drink? Perhaps talk about that murder case that everyone is all up worked up about?"  
"We can't have a drink right now," the second officer said from behind the first. "But we would like to talk to you about this murder, perhaps down at the station."  
"Why would we go down to the station when we." Duo replied, looking at everyone at the bar and putting his pool stick on the table. "Why don't you just wait until you get my report, I will file it with you guys tomorrow."  
"Duo, we have a warrant for your arrest." The first officer said, pulling out a folded piece of paper. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." The second officer put a hand on his revolver to emphasize his point.  
Duo sighed, "sure, anything I can do to help." The first police officer put Duo's arms behind his back and secured them with handcuffs while reading him his rights. When that was finished they lead him out of the bar and into the awaiting squad car, sitting him down in the back before getting in themselves and driving off.  
About a half an hour later Duo was in a 7 x 7 steel cage in the back of the police station, his head against the bars and his arms hanging out. In a couple minutes they would bring him into a stuffy interrogation room and try to get a confession out of him. As he heard the prison door open Duo knew his time had come and shook his head, his mind already racing through possible ways to get him out of this. The voice he heard next actually had him pleasantly surprised instead of worried. "Hello Duo." He heard Heero say.  
Duo breathed in a slight sigh of relief. "What's going on here, why am I a suspect, not to mention being called the killer, in this murder?  
"It wasn't my idea Duo," Heero replied, sounding slightly exasperated. "There is a pile of evidence here that points to you. Your fingerprints were on the gun and bottle found at the hotel, the gun was registered to you, not to mention your DNA being found from the saliva on the bottle and the hair strands, as well as several electronic and eyewitness statements-"  
"This is impossible!" Duo shouted. "Heero, you gotta do something about this!"  
"My hands are tied." Heero replied. "Do you have an alibi for last night?"  
"Last night." Duo said, rubbing his head. "I was at the bar, someone challenged me to the shot game, I won two out of three. that was about 9pm. After that. next thing I knew I woke up in my office on the floor at about 10am, and Hilde was helping me up and giving me a cup of coffee."  
There was a slight pause, then Heero spoke up, "you have no alibi. You need to find something that clears your name, try talking to that clerk, Trowa, something tells me that he's not telling us the truth. Afterwards try Dr. Winner, he might have something useful as well. The rest. is up to you." Heero took out a ring of keys and unlocked the cell door, sliding it back.  
"Thanks Heero, you're the best." Duo replied, getting out of the cell and walking towards the back door. "And Duo." Heero said suddenly, making Duo spin around. "I'm taking a big risk on you, if you get caught again I will not bail you out, and I will kill you if I have to." Duo laughed, then stopped when he saw that Heero was far from kidding. He went out the back door and hopped over the fence, then ducked down into an alley. As he passed a phone booth he walked in and took out the phone book, looking up the address of Dr. Winner, then wrote it on a napkin and started walking back to his apartment to regroup before the word gets out that he escaped. As he walked he tried as hard as he could to remember what happened last night, to no avail. Even though he knew that the murder was too well planned out, he began to doubt his own innocence.  
  
About half an hour later, Trowa Barton was in his office filing papers when there was a sharp knock on the door.  
"Come in." He said, not even looking up from the desk drawer. When he looked back up he saw who was there, surprised. "I didn't expect to see you back here." Suddenly there were two loud gunshots and Trowa's lifeless body fell to the desk, blood pouring out of the two bullet holes onto the papers on the desk. The person fired another round, this time into the computer system, causing it to spark up. The killer put a duffel bag underneath the desk and threw the gun on the floor, then turned the doorknob with a gloved hand and walked out of the office, silently closing the door before walking out of the lobby and down into the parking lot.  
  
~***~  
  
Riptor: Gee, Trowa died, what a shocker.  
  
Rya: What's that crack supposed to mean?  
  
Riptor: Oh please, everyone knows that you love Quatre and that Trowa is always with him.  
  
Rya: *snorts* Maybe I just don't like Trowa, that's all.  
  
Riptor: Whatever. 


End file.
